专访 Overhead, The Albatross | 追寻无边界的创作
2026-1-26
2009 年组建的爱尔兰器乐摇滚乐队 Overhead, The Albatross，凭借首张专辑《Learning to Growl》崭露头角，以独特的器乐声景成为后摇场景中极具特色的一支队伍；历经八年休整后，四人阵容携第二张专辑《I Leave You This》回归，以更具突破的器乐写作和流派跨越，带来了超乎预期的收听体验。如今这支备受期待的乐队迎来首次中国巡演，巡演启幕前夕，UPEE 有幸与 OTA 展开独家专访，分享《I Leave You This》的创作幕后以及对此次中国之行的期待。
UPEE：你们前年发行的专辑《I Leave You This》中，能感受到许多跳出后摇风格固有印象的声音元素 —— 比如更具电子质感的音色运用，以及近乎声音实验的整体氛围。在 Overhead, The Albatross 的创作语境中，你们认为该如何理解 “后摇” 这一概念？
OTA：我觉得乐队刚起步时，我们对后摇的定义或许还比较刻板。但我们一直很喜欢像 65daysofstatic 这样的乐队，他们的音乐风格游走在大众认知的后摇的流派边界之上。
创作时我们始终有一个原则：只要某个旋律或音色听起来足够出彩，哪怕它不属于传统意义上的后摇范畴，只要适配歌曲整体，我们就会采用。随着乐队逐渐成熟，成员们的音乐偏好也不断拓宽，我们自然而然地开始融入更多元的声音元素，愈发注重音乐的质感、音色与氛围营造。对我们而言，后摇的核心在于通过音乐构建一段情感旅程，而呈现这段旅程的方式可以不拘一格。我想，在后摇这个创作框架里，人们总觉得音乐该具备某些固定特质，但我们觉得，玩转这些特质、打破条条框框的过程本身就很有趣。我们真正的追求，是让音乐逐渐跳出风格的束缚和“被流派定义”的状态。
I think when we started out we possibly had a more rigid interpretation of Post Rock. However we were always fans of bands such as 65daysofstatic who skirt that line of what a lot of people believed the meaning of the term meant.
It was always a rule for us while writing that if something sounded good and wasn’t traditionally “Post Rock” it didn’t matter and we should put it in the song if it worked. I think as we matured and our musical tastes broadened we naturally started to incorporate more and more sounds and started to focus on texture , unique sounds and ambience. For us I think Post Rock is about creating an emotional journey whatever way you want. I guess writing music in the genre, your music is supposed to have a certain set of characteristics and we think it’s fun to play with all of those and break them. Our true desire is to become more and more genre-less.
UPEE：专辑中许多时刻会令听众感受到 Ambient、Sound Collage 乃至 Drum ‘n’ Bass 等不同的流派融合的尝试，着手这些尝试对于你们来说有带来什么新的感受？
OTA：这些都是我们自己想听到的，我们始终是为自己的品味而创作，也希望每位成员都能享受演奏的过程。人生本就有起有落、有巅峰有低谷，我们想让音乐成为这种人生状态的写照——前一秒还是极致的欢愉，下一秒就可能坠入猝不及防的惆怅。
It’s what we want to hear, we write for our own personal tastes, we all want to enjoy what we’re playing. Life is about the highs and lows, the peaks and troughs. We want our music to reflect that. How moments of absolute joy can be followed by sharp and unexpected melancholy.
UPEE：专辑中有三首曲目《L’appel du Vide》《Hibakusha》《Miss Na Kita》，分别以法语、日语、他加禄语命名，同时也有些许世界音乐感的配器或采样在之中，可以分享是如何想到以这样的形式呈现它们的吗？它们在《I Leave You This》的整体表达中有什么样的特别意义或者居于什么特殊的位置吗？
OTA：《I Leave You This》整张专辑的创作脉络，就像一场人生旅程。每首歌的排序都经过精心考量，对应着人生的不同阶段。我们都痴迷于民族乐器的独特音色，比如菲律宾的传统乐器库林堂琴，它的音色带着原生质感，演奏者的即兴发挥更让乐器充满不确定性，录制这类乐器的现场音效，对我们来说充满乐趣和新鲜感。这些全新的声音元素，不仅帮助我们塑造歌曲的独特气质，更赋予了作品意想不到的生命力。
“L’appel du Vide”这个名字，指的是一种内心的冲动：脑海里会同时浮现 “该不该做某件事” 的矛盾念头，这种时刻需要人用理智克制冲动。在这样的拉扯中，你会对自己的内心有无比清醒的认知，也会真切感受到生命的鲜活。这就是一种人的意识。
“Hibakusha”这个词，指代的是日本原子弹爆炸的幸存者。这些幸存者曾因旁人对核辐射的恐惧而被孤立。我们觉得，这是对人生境遇的一个很好的隐喻——很多时候，尤其是在困境之中，每个人都会陷入这种孤独的境地。
“Miss Na kita”在他加禄语里的意思是“我想你”。我们乐队的键盘手 Dave 和家人一起住在菲律宾，这张专辑的很多创作工作都是在菲律宾完成的，当地的音乐元素自然而然地融入了歌曲里。这首歌想表达的，是人生旅途中爱而不得的失落。
I Leave You This is written like a journey through life. Each song is very carefully positioned on the album and based around the stages of life. We all love the sounds of indigenous instruments, the raw texture of the sounds you get from a kulingtang (Filipino traditional instrument) and the unpredictability of the player, makes recording things like that live so much more interesting and fun for us. Using these new sounds helps us shape songs and breaths unexpected life into them.
L’appel du Vide is the call of the void , it’s that nervous phenomenon where your mind is split between doing something you shouldn’t and not doing it, a moment where you have to employ restraint. It’s the point where you have to become completely aware of your own mind and makes you feel very alive. It’s consciousnesses.
Hibakusha is a reference to the Japanese people who survived the atomic bomb but who were then isolated by the rest of their society, as people were afraid of radiation. We thought that was the ultimate analogy for life, as ultimately often I think everyone finds themselves isolated especially in times of need.
Miss Na kita - means I miss you in Tagalog. Dave our keyboard player lives in the Philippines with his family. We wrote a lot of the album in the Philippines and so the musical influences there naturally bled into the music. This song is about the loss of love throughout your life.
UPEE：《I Leave You This》在收听感受上似乎比八年前的前作《Learning To Growl》要更为激进，可以分享你们觉得在这两张专辑之间，你们的状态或者理念、感受有什么改变吗？你们会如何形容这两张作品？
OTA：两张专辑创作的间隔期里，乐队的每位成员都经历了许多足以改变人生的大事——有人失去了亲友，也有人迎来了孩子的降生。这段时光让我们变得更加成熟，创作风格也随之沉淀，更多了成熟厚重。
在创作理念上，我们彻底挣脱了束缚，在这张专辑的创作中拥有绝对的自由，可以随心所欲地尝试任何想法。这两张专辑就像两本时光胶囊，未来每当我们再次聆听，都能瞬间回想起创作时的人生境遇。
Throughout the time between the two albums , so many life changing experiences were had by the members of the band. People in the band lost family members and friends, other people had children. That time and growing made us more mature and so I think the writing in turn became more mature. In terms of creative philosophy I think we all knew that the shackles were off and we could literally do what we wanted on this album. Both albums are like time capsules and we’ll always be able to listen each of them in the future and remember what was happening during that period of our lives.
UPEE：在现场你们会如何呈现《I Leave You This》？对于前作《Learning To Growl》以及乐队更早的作品，会有什么对应的编排调整吗？
OTA：我们喜欢用视觉元素为现场演出增添层次感，届时观众会看到音乐与视觉影像的巧妙融合。
目前我们的演出重心还是放在演绎新歌上，这些作品对我们来说充满新鲜感，演奏时也格外有兴致。我想，未来我们会把更多首张专辑里的曲目融入我们的演出里。
We like to add an extra layer to our shows with visuals so you will see them incorporated with the music.
We are still very much in the mode of playing the new songs. They are fresh for us and we love playing them. I think in the future more of the first album will find itself spliced into the set.
UPEE：去年你们来到了 Can Festival 进行演出，许多乐迷也对你们的表演印象深刻，对于那次演出有什么难忘的回忆吗？
OTA：整场音乐节的体验都棒极了，不过最让我们记忆犹新的两个瞬间，一个是走上舞台，另一个则是看到观众跟着我们的歌曲《This is Like Love》起舞——在后摇演出这并不常见，那一刻真的实在有意思。
The whole experience was amazing but I think the two highlights of the show were walking onto the stage and seeing the crowd dancing to our song This is Like Love, that doesn’ t normally happen at a Post Rock gig, so that was fun.
UPEE：马上你们就要开启在中国的首轮巡演，对此有什么期待吗？
OTA：说实话，我们完全想象不到现场会是什么样子，但心里已经充满了期待。我们特别欣赏中国乐迷对音乐的热情，这次巡演对我们来说是绝佳的机会 —— 既能深入了解中国的风土人情，又能一边旅行一边为大家演奏音乐，简直太美好了。
I guess we have no idea what to expect really, but we are extremely excited and love how passionate Chinese listeners are. It’s an amazing opportunity to see more of the country and experience the culture and the best thing is we get to play music while we do it.